“Bloody Darkness, Eksi! You’re back!”
Levik was quite surprised at how Psiksi had suddenly gotten up, raced across the room and thrown his arms around the old Skyan tutor. Eksi’s job was to help Skyavok gladiators train and keep fit, as well as assist in teaching finer control over shadow powers but he’d never really been a gladiator himself, due to a brain injury when he was young and just starting out himself.
However, when the Sudden Darkness took over, like all shadowblessed Skyans, Eksi had put his life on the line to help with evacuation efforts, despite his weaknesses. And he’d nearly lost his life when a wave of Corruption brushed against him, eating away at his flesh, while also utterly devouring the unlucky Ksithan he was trying to save.
Since then, Eksi had been in hospital, undergoing surgery to remove the corrupted flesh, then undergoing more procedures to help regrow skin, plating and muscle.
“Huh, you’re happy to see me, mate…”
Psiksi hugged Eksi tightly, then let go and dragged him back to his table, sitting him down next to Levik.
“Of course I’m happy to see you. Considering how you nearly fucking died and pretty much every other shadowblessed gladiator and trainer got hurt too… Accursed Light… we… we lost nearly everyone, really…” Psiksi sighed. “I got a message from Arksi, asking me if I’d be willing to fight for the Skyavok overall, since we barely have enough folks for one team, let alone the four we used to have…”
Psiksi trailed off, then took a moment to better inspect Eksi. Eksi was always dark-skinned, with orange and yellow speckled plating, but his left arm, the skin that had been damaged was covered in pitch black scars, and the plating on his lower arm, what Psiksi could see, was thin. Still speckled, but blotchy and covered in scratch marks, which were intentionally cut to push the plating to regrow in certain directions. Eksi also had a black scar across his neck and cheek. Considering that Eksi was particularly well-covered up, wearing a baggy hoodie that went down to his knees almost, it was certain that he was hiding far more scars.
“You’re not doing well, are you, mate?”
Eksi shook his head. “Turns out, near death experiences aren’t fun. Neither is all the medical work I’ve needed to… look halfway normal again. And I’m one of the lucky ones… Mostly just… well, still mourning. We lost a lot of good vok, and those of us who made it, a lot of us are retiring.”
“Including you?”
“Well… actually… no. I’m not fit yet. There’s a large crack in my plating around my elbow, and worrying cracks on my chest where they cut the infected plating away. It’s regrowing still but… like, maybe in a few months, I will be better. Physically, at least…” Eksi hesitated, then lowered his voice. “I heard Tromos is getting rid of the telepathic communication tech for dessaron teams. If he does that… I… I’m thinking of retraining as a gladiator. Actually doing it this time.”
Psiksi blinked. “Fucking really?”
“Yeah. The telepathic stuff put me off. Makes me dizzy and gives me headaches. The Raptor said she wanted to ditch it all but never did, now Tromos is doing it for real? Might be my chance. Just gotta finish physically healing up. And… well, I have therapy to go through too. Mental therapy…”
“I’ve been considering it too. Coping so far just with text chats with a handful of A-Class friends I have but… yeah… Last year was… horrible.”
“Definitely. And weird stuff happened to us…” Eksi leaned forward. “Did I tell you, I kinda accidentally met our Silent Blade?”
Psiksi tutted. “Hah. He totally used to just wander around Palaestra. He died for us all. Promised he’d keep the universe safe, even if it cost him everything, and he did exactly that. I almost feel bad calling him the Silent Blade, because the Rethans called him Oath Keeper and they were right about that.”
“You met him too?”
“Yeah. Me and Kayel were chilling out in my room after he did that Thirteenth Night event, someone knocked on the door, turned out to be the Silent Blade. I blurted that he was hot, he said I was cool, then he asked if Kayel was around and they headed off.”
Eksi smirked. “Hah. My stupid anecdote involves Kayel as well. Ran into him at the mall, chatting with a yellow-plated Skyan in a black hoodie. They claimed to be an L-Class friend of Kayel’s. I said he was hot, gave him a contact card then left them to it. Kayel admitted later that I gave my number to the Silent Blade.”
“Pretty sure Kayel slept with the Silent Blade.”
“Hah… Probably…”
“Are we talking about Kayel, the Shadowstalker?” Levik asked. “And he was… dating the Thantophor? That’s who the Silent Blade is, right?”
Both Psiksi and Eksi turned to Levik.
“Oh dude, I’m so sorry, I totally blanked you… Hi, I’m Eksi Dythanon, former and future trainer, fitness instructor, shadowjumping tutor and dietician for the Skyan gladiators around here… Are you… Are you really the Lord Prince? Pretty sure I’ve seen you before.”
Levik nodded, then frowned. “Well, I USED to be the middle Lord Prince. Big brother died being a hero and gets statues of himself everywhere in his memory. Little brother died being a hero and got resurrected by the Holy Whenvern. I only massively brained myself being a hero and got disowned and kicked out.”
Eksi glanced at Psiksi, then turned back to Levik. “Wow. Dude, I’m sorry. Your, uh, father, I assume, is a cunt.”
“Eh, yes, he is. But… well… I’m finally free of all the Lord King training bullshit, so is Kohra. And while Kohra is busy being amazing, I get to follow a dream of my own now, and follow in my hero’s footsteps. Just… kinda wish I’d worked out Tanos was Tenuk sooner, I guess.”
Eksi thought for a moment, then put an arm around Levik. “Honestly? Tenuk was a fucking amazing gladiator with no training. I haven’t seen much of what you’ve done yet, apart from that match against Viktor, but you got skill too. And, although I’m technically not supposed to be working for another two months, I’d love to help you train.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Eksi grinned. “I see potential in you. A fuckton of it. But also I think both Kayel and Tenuk would appreciate us helping you out. And, admittedly, it’ll help me ease back into things as well. Still haven’t read up on the new stuff Tromos is bringing in.”
Levik smiled too. “I appreciate that, friend. It’s been so cool meeting all these different folks and you’ve all been so kind to me.”
“To be fair, Timik and I do make sure the assholes stay at bay…” Psiksi muttered. “Us Threanics are friendly, but mammalian races can be racist as fuck at times. Especially Torr.”
“Yeah, true…” Eksi nodded in agreement. “But don’t worry. Us Skyans are chill dudes. And I want to start working towards being a gladiator myself. There’s mutual stuff going on here.”
“Still, I appreciate the kindness!” Levik settled down. “This year has all been so fun so far. It’s only going to get better from now on.”